Tag Archives: power plant

Utility Arizona Public Service on Monday submitted a proposal to install and own solar power systems on customers’ rooftops in Flagstaff. Customers will pay today’s electricity and hot water heating rates for the energy those systems produce over a 20-year period.

Duke Energy last Thursday gained approval for a $50 million project in North Carolina with a similar model. The utility will install and own solar electric panels at 100 to 400 locations and pay a rental fee to property owners.

By owning the systems and the power produced, the utilities can treat the distributed solar resources as a power plant that they can control.

The electricity production of solar panels tends to coincide with peak times of electricity demand. Instead of building a new power plant, or turning on costly and polluting auxiliary plants, utilities can partially meet peak load with the distributed solar systems.

Customers, meanwhile, can get solar energy systems without having to pay the large upfront cost, something that a number of solar start-ups are also doing with varied financing options.

“The project eliminates upfront costs of more than $10,000 to each customer, which we know from our experience has been a major deterrent to distributed solar systems here and elsewhere,” Arizona Public Service CEO Don Brandt said in a statement. “We want to make solar energy affordable to everyone.”

The $14.7 million pilot, called Community Power Project, is expected to generate 1.5 megawatts from 200 to 300 participants in Flagstaff. The plan also calls for about 50 solar hot water systems to be installed.

The electricity from the panels will be fed directly into the grid and be part of the utility’s smart-grid technology program to efficiently manage the flow of energy across the grid. Arizona Public Service already has a few utility-scale solar power plants in the state, but distributed solar power could help the utility meet state mandates for renewable energy production, it said.

The solar panels from Duke’s program, which had been scaled back from the initial $100 million proposal, are expected to collectively generate enough electricity to supply 1,300 homes. In a statement, Duke CEO James Rogers said that it’s part of the utility’s long-term strategy to diversity its power generation.

“We believe the future is a low-carbon world. The 21st century mission of our company is to decarbonize our energy supply and provide universal access to energy efficiency,” Rogers told shareholders in a meeting last week.

Xcel Energy and SunPower Corporation have signed an agreement to build a 17-megawatt AC photovoltaic solar power plant in Colorado’s Alamosa County.

When completed at the end of 2010, the power plant will be the second-largest high-efficiency solar PV power plant in North America. It is expected to create approximately 200 jobs during construction.

“We believe that solar power generation will play an increasingly vital role in our efforts to meet the wishes of our Colorado customers for more renewable, clean energy sources,” said Tim Taylor, president and CEO for Public Service Co. of Colorado, an Xcel Energy company. “SunPower’s experienced approach to solar power plant design and construction will allow us to quickly complete this important project.”

The plant will use SunPower® Tracker systems, which generate up to 30 percent more energy per land area than conventional systems and reduce land-use requirements.

Xcel Energy is ranked as the fifth-largest utility provider of solar power in the nation. In Colorado, the company has acquired more than 25 megawatts of on-site solar generation from homes and businesses participating in Xcel’s Solar*Rewards rebate program. In addition, the company buys power from an 8.2-megawatt solar farm adjacent to where the new facility will be built.